Tracking the Tigers with MLB.com beat writer Jason Beck.

Cabrera to miss Seattle series

Miguel Cabrera will miss the Tigers’ upcoming two-game series at Seattle to be with his wife in Florida for the birth of their second child.

It leaves a big void for Detroit to fill against the Mariners. But as manager Jim Leyland pointed out, it’s a loss they can completely understand.

“We’re going to be playing a little bit short, but for the right reason,” Leyland said. “I wish him the best of luck, obviously, with the child and everything.”

Cabrera’s wife, Rosangel, is scheduled to have labor induced on Tuesday near their home in Miami and give birth to their second daughter. Because the Tigers play Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon in Seattle, it would be just about impossible for Cabrera to return in time for Wednesday’s series finale.

Instead, Cabrera will rejoin the team back in Detroit for the start of their upcoming homestand Friday night.

Cabrera hit his 10th home run of the season in Sunday’s win over the Dodgers. His 32 RBIs lead the Major Leagues, and his loss will leave the Tigers tinkering the middle of the lineup. With Carlos Guillen on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Toledo, Detroit doesn’t have a proven run producer to fill in. They could conceivably give rookie Brennan Boesch a chance in the cleanup spot, or they could move Johnny Damon down in the order.

Both Tigers superutility players, Don Kelly and Ryan Raburn, have experience playing first base. So it appears unlikely the Tigers will make a short-term roster move to add a position player.

“I’ve got plenty of options,” Leyland said. “I’m not worried about that. You don’t like that bat being out of there for a couple of days, but I’ve got a couple guys who can play first base. I’m not worried about that part of it. You worry about losing that offense for a couple days — like I said, all for the right reason.

“We’ll make the best out of it. Hopefully everything works out for Miguel and his wife. We’ll move forward.”

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2 Comments

Congrats to MCab and Rosangel. I hope Detroit is a good place to raise their family for half a year and one of their favorite places.
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I have just decided to not go to Seattle now. Miguel not being there decided that for me!.
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Kelly and Raburn playing a game each makes sense to me. Hopefully AJ will be ready to go.
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I’d bat Damon 3rd and Ordonez 4th. Seems like the right thing to do. Keep Santiago at short and bat him #2. Worth down in the order is creating some opportunity so leave him alone.
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The catching situation is so deplorable I see only 2 alternatives. One is to send Avila down or the other is to give him the job against RHP. Either way he will get enough at bats to make a difference. As it stands now he will not succeed getting less than 40% of the playing time. Rx for failure for a young kid like that. Fish or cut bait.
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I predicted .205-2.10 for Inge by the end of the month. I’m stickin’ to that prediction. Those 2 days off this week might save thim though!
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Interesting to see Worth perform so well. I think it was a mistake to give Sizemore that job without ever having played 1 pitch in the majors. Especially after coming off serious injury. I don’t know what the front office was thinking on that one. Put way too much pressure on him. Worth comes up with no pressure (he knows he’s going back when Guillen returns) and he excels. He’ll be playing short for us very soon. Dlugach strikes out just far too much and as good a reputaion he has for the glove, he makes a lot of errors in the field.
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With Wells and Strieby ahead of him, Wilkin Ramirez’ best chance is to be traded IMO. The big club can’t afford his strikeout ratio (and fielding difficulties) in their lineup. Too bad—lots of tools and an exciting type player.
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I don’t blame you, Dan. Miggy provides a good portion of the entertainment
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I think I’d also go with Damon and Ordonez 3-4. I wouldn’t put it on Boesch because you never know how someone will react to the cleanup spot. This is predicated, of course, on Jackson in the lineup and I’m not so sure he will be by Tuesday. There’s always Raburn to lead off too, I guess.
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We dodged a bullet this weekend by coming out of it only one game back. Those Dodgers pitchers were tough, while the Twins were in their own ballpark with the Brewers. Fortunately Verlander is pitching one of the Seattle games because we’ll need strong starts this week. Hopefully Bonderman can keep it up too.
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Certainly a strange schedule that sends a team west with two of the three series being 2-gamers. Well, I’ve got one vote (Mayo’s) for commissioner, so we’ll see how the campaign goes. :-)
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–Rich

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